May 13: Ginny & Michigan

Ginny got a job as a faculty member at Michigan State University.  She will be up there with some great people in the field, and some great friends including Christa (from our cohort) and Alex (recent master's graduate).  She'll be up there for at least two years, as that's her appointment, and I plan on visiting at some point.  Preferably when it's hot in Texas and nice in Michigan.  Or in the fall or spring; but I will avoid that winter-mess.  No, this isn't Ginny's car, I just saw the Michigan plate and thought of her!

March 10: Commencement Information

I have submitted my information for the graduate school commencement, which means my name and information will be in the program.  Woo.  It's getting closer and feeling more and more real!

March 6: Newly Minted PhD

Friends, let me introduce to you, Dr. Phil Badaszewski.  Ohh, and uga edu.  Yep, the college of education is giving out uga's (pronounced ugg-ah) for you to take with you and #ugaedu or something like that...anyway, we are also taking uga to NASPA this year.  WOO.  I digress.  Today, Phil defended his dissertation and officially became Dr. B.  Thus, a group of us went out to celebrate the newly minted Dr.  Congrats!

February 28: Grad Regalia!

Our first tax workshop went really well!  I was part of the quality control which double checks all the paperwork.  It was fun finding some mistakes that resulted in students getting money back, instead of owing money!

 

Also, it's official... Ginny and I purchased our graduation regalia!

January 19: Starbucks 78@Loop 10

Spent the day working at Starbucks, this time so friends joined me!

January 15: Stress(ful) Release

I don't like days with back to back meetings.  It doesn't leave much time to get things done.  Nor does it allow much time for interaction with students.  Today was one of those days.  It also doesn't help when meetings run over.  It wasn't a bad day, just busy.  Two highlights, however, were my deep tissue massage (25 minutes) and coming home to January and February's issues of real simple.  My back has been bugging me for awhile.  The knots and headaches at the base of my skull are not pleasant.  I know this dang PhD is doing a number on my body.  Anyway, I found a 30 minute block to get in and have them rub the left side of my back and neck.  I am so grateful for the health center.  Ohh it helped so much.  And...the lady told me I may qualify for medical massages (under my graduate student insurance).  Definitely something to talk with my doctor about (especially since I have to go see him for my annual thyroid appointment anyway).

January 9: Advisor Mtg

The first (of many) advising meeting of the semester happened today.  We talked about the class I'm teaching, the job search, and of course...the dissertation.  Thus far, it still looks like I'm in a good place to graduate in May. :)

January 8: Deadlines for Graduation

I was back at Starbucks working and writing, surprise, surprise.  Part of what I did was add all the deadlines for graduation forms to my planner.  This one, however, was the most exciting to add!

January 6: Applied for Graduation

This is the first of many, many, forms and such I have to fill out in order to graduate in Spring.  Ohh, and I have to finish and defend my dissertation.  No big deal.

January 5: Free Starbucks

Spent most of today working at Starbucks.  I am much more productive when I have few distractions.  Also, it helps when you get a free drink (let's not talk about how much coffee you have to drink in order to get a free reward ;).

December 13: Fall Graduation

Today was the fall graduation ceremony, Friday the 13th.  Although some think it's an unlucky day, for Dr. Nikki Tobias it was not a very unlucky day.  Watching her get hooded made me excited, anxious, and a little stressed.  Graduation is five months away.  That means I have to turn everything in during April, which means I have to defend by beginning/mid April at the latest and that means my stuff have to be to my committee weeks before I defend.  The timeline keeps backing up...data collection in January, write-write-write in February, revise w/chair & committee in March...yikes.  

Anyway, today was a great celebration as one of my cohort graduated.  Only four more in my cohort to go.  Ginny & I will graduate in May, then our part-timers Zoe and Megan will come later (and we will be cheering them on).  No cohort member left behind :) 

December 11: Last Semester Registration

Today I registered for my last semester of classes at The University of Georgia (Lord willing).  I used this outdated system from the 1970s only FINAL time to register for 18 credit hours.  I'm not convinced these are the last classes I will ever take.  However, this is the last semester of classes I intend to take seeking a degree!  What a wonderful feeling.  Graduation count down begins.  Yikes!

December 8: CSAA Holiday Party

Tonight we had our annual holiday party for the CSAA-D (the PhDers) and the faculty.  This year we were at Dr. Chris Linder's house.  The food was amazing and we always have a very eventual gift exchange.  This year I brought a coin counting bank with some $ in it and a gift card.  It was actually picked first and after two steals it was done.  Me?  Well, I got the bulldawg which is suppose to return every year (I don't plan to be here) and someone hoping it brings them good luck with graduation for the following year (i.e., 2015).  I mean, I am pretty confident May 2014 is going to happen, but I guess a little luck is always good.

December 6: UVA President

The Louise McBee lecture is an annual event hosted by the Institute of Higher Education at UGA.  This year Dr. Sullivan the president of the University of Virginia spoke.  She was dynamic and engaging.  In 2010 Dr. Sullivan was unanimously named the 8th president of UVA and in 2012 she stepped down after the board of visitors told her they had the votes to remove her.  She was reinstated shortly after.  If you want to read more, here is the story on the controversy.  Anyway, what a rare opportunity to hear her speak and answer questions.

November 12: IRB Approval

I got an email today that surprised me…it was my IRB approval for my dissertation research.  About a month ago, I submitted this application (to which your advisor has to go in and actually hit 'submit').  A week later, they sent me some minor revisions.  There were things like, uncheck this box, check this one instead.  The final change I needed to make was to attach a letter of support from Georgia Tech.  Anyway, the woman reviewing it said, "I saw you addressed the changes needed, you just need to make sure your advisor hits submit again."  Apparently in the new system your advisor has to hit submit after everything!  Dr. Cooper and I chatted and she said she wasn't going to hit submit until I got the letter from Georgia Tech (I was totally on board).  Then last week, they emailed me and said…hey your advisor still hasn't submitted.  AND I guess they emailed her too…and so she just went in and submitted it (contrary to what I thought was going to happen).  Fast forward to today…I got an email with the approval for my research.  YAY! But it also came as a bit of a surprise.  The email said, we're approving your study…when you get the letter from Georgia Tech, just email it and we will attach it for you.  

All that to say, I'm excited to be able to begin data collection soon!  WOOHOO!  Also…this is the form they sent showing my approval.  All that wait for this one page, non-descriptive approval form (there's not even a signature, ha!).

October 31: Happy Halloween

I enjoyed Halloween as a kid.  Many times we'd trick-or-treat around the neighborhood and have some sort of party, costume contest at church.  As an adult, I enjoy seeing the kiddos dressed in costumes, but don't really participate in Halloween.  This is particularly true now when I live in a place that doesn't get visited by children trick-or-treaters.

I did, however, have drinks with one of the first year PhD students which was fun...oh and I wore my pumpkin shirt (it's really the only day I can get away with wearing it).  I also got this goodie bag from the faculty member, Chris Linder, that I am teaching with.  It was filled with delicious ginger cookies and other sweet treats.  Happy Halloween.

October 21: IRB Submitted

In order to conduct research on human subjects, you must submit documentation to the institutional research board (IRB) for approval before you conduct research.  The tricky part for me, is that I'm looking at multiple institutions...so I have to do this multiple times.  As you can see in the picture, I started this process at the end of may and FINALLY submitted it today.  I currently have four institutions that are willing to participate in data collection.  In other words, they'll send out emails on my behalf.  Anyway...I'm excited that this dissertation is another step closer to getting d-o-n-e.

October 20: Atlanta

I spent the day in Atlanta...yep, the whole day.  I took my sister to the airport in the morning (we left the house at 6am).  I was sad to see her go, we had such a nice time and I hate that she lives on the other side of the country!

After dropping her off, I took a nap in my car then headed to Starbucks to do some grading.  I graded papers until 3:30 when I realized if I wanted to do anything in Atlanta on a Sunday (or visit any stores I don't have in Athens) I needed to do so before things closed at 6pm on Saturday.  I hit up a couple places and then waited for Dallin to be done conferencing so we could grab dinner and catch up.  Dallin was a year ahead of me in the PhD program when I started and has been working in South Carolina for the last year (ish), and so when he mentioned he'd be in Atlanta for a conference we made plans to hang out.

We had dinner at Tin Lizzy's Cantina...it was good, not great, but good.  When we first arrived they had live music which was great!  But more than that it was a good chance to catch up on work, life, my dissertation, and other nerdy stats stuff.  No really, we talked about factor analysis, regression, and other quantitative research.  Most of my other friends are doing qualitative dissertations, so it's nice to have someone who understands my lingo.  

After dropping Dallin off at his hotel, I realized, dinner with him was going to be my picture of the day. Grrr.  So I tried to call him as he entered the hotel, but alas, he didn't hear it ring until he was on his way back to his room.  So instead of a picture of us at dinner, you get this...the time on my car clock when I got home.  Yep, it was way past my bed time!

Ps. October 20th is also my dad's birthday (I was suppose to be born on his birthday, but I came early). When I logged onto skype, a little spinning birthday cake also told me it was his birthday, kinda fun & random!

The Dissertation & Human Subjects Internal Review Process at Nine Institutions

I wish this would write itself.

Retreating in TN

I have always been better at writing when I have concentrated times to focus.  Now, I've read all (e.g., a few) the books that talk about writing your dissertation a little each day...but that just isn't as effective for me.

About a month ago, I was talking with my dad about the possibility of utilizing his timeshare in Florida for a writing retreat.  After going through options and possibilities, we realized it wasn't going to work.  However, a couple days later my dad got an email about some spots in Tennessee that were trying to get rid of their rentals over Labor Day weekend.

Perfect!

After working out some details, my dad was able to secure a one bedroom condo for my getaway.  Knowing a few others who also needed to do some writing, I invited Kristin and Mallory along.  Kristin (who is working on her PhD at University of Denver) found a flight from Denver to Atlanta and the plan began to come together.

Kristin flew into town on Friday morning, I picked her up and we were headed to Tennessee.  Although no good plan isn't complete without some hiccups, right?  On Friday as I was leaving Athens, I realized I had left the confirmation of the condo at home.  No biggie, just go back.  As I was yet again leaving Athens I realized I forgot something else...

Box of books (check)
Snacks (check)
Directions (check)
Blanket in case it is cold in the condo (check)
Clean apartment to come home to (check)
Backpack with computer & iPad... (ummm, no)

Yep, I really left without my backpack that had my computer and iPad.  How is one to write on a writing retreat without a computer?  No, paper & pencil will not do.

So I turned my car back around and picked up my backpack and hit the road (again).  Needless to say, I was a bit late in picking Kristin up from the airport.

We arrived safely in Fairfield Glad last evening.  We checked in, got keys, and were directed to the concierge.  The woman began asking me questions...

Concierge: Are you over 25?
Me: yes
Concierge: Is there a Mr. Dean?
Me: ummm, no.
Concierge: So you're single. (this wasn't really a question)
Me: (blank stare) uh, yeah.
Concierge: (proceeds to find my name on a list and mark a giant S beside my name)

Kristin and I looked at each other and laughed; not sure why that was necessarily.  After we got settled in the condo, we went to pick up some groceries before Mallory arrived.  On the way to the store Kristin and I both noted that the clock in my car wasn't right.  Strange, we thought.  Kristin mentioned she might have bumped the hour ahead when she was moving stuff into the condo.  We went about our business thinking nothing of it.

Later that evening when we were back and before Mallory arrived Kristin commented....

K: I thought we were two hours ahead of Denver time
Me: We are
K: So why does my computer say 9:11 (still set to Denver time) and your phone says 10:11 (supposedly set to the current time)
Me: Oh my...we're on CENTRAL time.

Clearly, it was the first time either of us realized we had crossed the time zone.  Now, in our defense, Tennessee is divided between Eastern and Central time zone...so it's perfectly logical we didn't know what time it was in Fairfield Glade, TN.

I digress.  Today has been a productive day already, and we're here until Tuesday!  You may be wondering what I'm working on since I recently defended my first three chapters...well, I'm revising based on my committees suggestions, working on my IRB form (which requests the university allow me to actually do research on humans), recruitment emails for participation in my study, and other things related to actually doing my research study.

Now I should probably get back to working on the other tasks at hand, but I needed a mental break.  I'm grateful for my dad's generosity in letting me (us) use this timeshare for our writing retreat!